Aurantioideae are smallish trees or large shrubs, or rarely lianas. Their flowers are typically white and fragrant. Their fruit are very characteristic hesperidia, usually of rounded shape and colored in green, yellowish or orange hues.[1]

The subfamily can be divided into two tribes, the ancestral Clauseneae and the more advanced Citreae. Several genera have been recently reassigned from the latter to the former, but the arrangement of subtribes leaves much to be desired. The tribes, with subtribes listed in phylogenetic sequence and genera listed alphabetically, are:[1][2]